Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Ulta Beauty Call Options (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 26,381 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 382% compared to the average daily volume of 5,468 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. This trade represents a 10.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 199.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,021,000 after buying an additional 3,095 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,663,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $5,257,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the period. Finally, Coerente Capital Management raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Coerente Capital Management now owns 36,864 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $16,033,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA traded down $2.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $473.11. 667,237 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,051,444. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $491.98. The firm has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $386.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $388.83.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.73 by $0.97. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.79 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The business's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.47 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $490.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, B. Riley reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $460.91.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

Ulta Beauty, Inc operates as a specialty beauty retailer in the United States. The company offers branded and private label beauty products, including cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools through its Ulta Beauty stores, shop-in-shops, Ulta.com website, and its mobile applications.